Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Party of terror

In a piece that was mercifully rescued from behind the Times of London's paywall by the World Jewish Congress, former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar and former first minister of Northern Ireland Lord Trimble, who are co-founders of the Friends of Israel Initiative, explain why Europe ought to designate Hezbullah as a terror organization.

In July last year a bus full of Israeli tourists was blown to pieces by a young suicide bomber in Burgas,
Bulgaria — five Israelis and the Bulgarian bus driver were killed. All
the evidence points to it being a plot conceived and executed by
Hezbollah.

Yet despite this atrocity some European governments are not willing
to declare Hezbollah a security threat and put it on the EU terrorist
list. This refusal is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of the
group. Hezbollah is not just a Lebanese militia group and political
party. It is the long arm of Iran. From its conception by Tehran in
1982, it has been committed to the revolutionary goals of the
international expansion of Shia Islam, as dreamt of by the Ayatollah Khomeini.

The fact that it holds seats in the Lebanese Parliament and posts in
the Cabinet does not mean that its leaders see themselves as just
another Lebanese faction — albeit one that murders its political
opponents (a UN tribunal found that the assassination of Rafiqal-Hariri, the Lebanese prime minister was a Hezbollah plot).

On the contrary Hezbollah has a global vision and reach. It has
perpetrated attacks in places as distant as Argentina, Georgia, Israel,
Thailand, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, as well as Lebanon. It has been
involved in illegal but very lucrative activities in Latin America and
West Africa. For instance, it has run drug-trafficking and
money-laundering operations in the jungle of Colombia under the control
of the FARC. According to US officials, Hezbollah is heavily involved in smuggling drugs into Europe.

Some argue that there is a difference between Hezbollah’s military
wing, its political wing and its charitable activities. They are wrong —
it is one single body and every part plays a role in the overall
strategy. The leaders in charge of its hospitals and schools, the
military leader and the political representatives all sit together under
the secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah. His deputy, NaimQassem,
was quoted as recently as October, saying: “We don’t have a military
wing and a political wing. We don’t have the Party of Allah and the
Party of Resistance. These differences do not exist and are rejected.”

Hezbollah is committed to violent revolution. It sees itself as being
in total confrontation with our way of life. The idea that engaging
Hezbollah through the Lebanese political process and institutions would
moderate it has proved to be a dangerous illusion. And today it is
actively intervening in Syria on behalf of Basharal-Assad; we will know soon about the atrocities conducted by its militants there.

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About Me

I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 12 to 33 years and eight grandchildren. Three of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com